Hard decisions are sometimes the best ones

         I decided something now at this point. It was a hard decision for me. I tend to want to follow the adage that "I can do anything I set my mind to". But I need to follow my body's signals. I have osteoarthritis in my knees. It is not on the weight bearing part of my knee (as my wonderful doctor says) so I can continue to run and running itself won't make them worse. However it's the length of the runs that CAN end up making them worse. My doctor doesn't want me to run another 100 and I need to listen to his wisdom.
       I ran the 100 mile last year and finished. I am so happy about that and have no real reason I need to to do it again. I think I just wanted to be that person that can go around running these kinds of races over and over and be fine. But I am not that person and that's fine. I am a good runner. I need to make smart decisions.
       And my decision is not to run the Hennepin Hundred in October. This was a big prize I won at the IT100 race and in the heat of the moment I was excited  to do it. But I did have to take my knee medication after the first loop--already after 17 miles. My knees warmed up and were great for the rest of the 50 miles and felt fine when i got home. In fact I was running after only about 4 days. But I think if I had taken it all the way to the 100 mile I would have ended up with more problems that would have thrown me off course in my exercise and my ultimate health and derail any of my other races I want to do in the coming months.
       I also am tired of training. I have been training for pretty much the last three years off and on. First--training for a marathon, then another, then a 50k, a 60k, a 50 mile and a 100 mile. Then another marathon, another 50k, another 100 mile. And it took up most of my life. I need to at this point step back a little, let myself off the hook some and get back my pure love of running. I want to work on my speed and do higher intensity workouts and can't do that if I am constantly doing long distance training. I am thinking of trying some other kinds of workouts too--martial arts, yoga, go back to the boxing gym. Just be able to mix it up a little and find my joy in workouts and classes.
   So I got to run my 100 mile race--gain a wonderful sense of achievement, a cool tattoo, got to know lots of amazing ultrarunners and gain a vast and varied community and am happy that my single 100 mile race was a tough race I finished and can be proud of doing it. 
  I am now looking at shorter races--ones I don't necessarily have to train for--or not train as much. I am thinking some 5k, 10k, 15k distances, some fun half marathons, maybe a marathon or two. My doctor says I am okay for marathon distance and I am sure since 50k is just a few more miles would be fine with that as well. As for solid plans and signing up for races I am not sure at this point. I am certainly sure that I want to have the ability to run for years to come. I want to take care of myself.

There is a time to push and a time to pull back.